I knew that I was always going to be nervous on my first trip on Trivial Pursuit. This was not so much about the sailing of the boat, which is after all, very similar to sailing a dinghy, but more about the managing of the boat, navigation and getting the tides right.
This latter point definitely played on my mind the most. Trivial Pursuit is a deep fin keel drawing 1.8m and the local pilot guide for navigating from Preston Marina is that you take 6m off High Water Liverpool. With this in mind, I didn’t want to leave on any tide less that 8.5m. This was therefore limiting us coming in and out of the Ribble Estuary to spring tides. The estuary itself dries out at low water and it is 15 NM from the marina to the safe water mark so there is also very little room for error. For this reason, I made the decision that on my first trip I would invite someone with experience of the Ribble Estuary and Irish Sea. Mike, the previous owner of Trivial Pursuit, put me in touch with his good friend Mike Hornsey, an experienced coastal and ocean sailor who had also sailed Trivial Pursuit in the past.
Mike and I met at Preston one Sunday over the summer and we went through several points about the boat, learned through his previous experience sailing her. Also on the crew were two friends from Bolton sailing club; Roger (who also has experience of Irish sea sailing) and Frank who I have previously sailed GP 14s with. He has limited experience of Yacht sailing but is an intuitive sailor and quick learner.
If you sail in the Northwest of England you have to accept that poor weather is going to be part of the agenda. However, the summer of 2023 saw strong westerly winds at two spring tide weeks preventing planned trips due to the potential of grounding in the trough between waves at the estuary mouth. We were rewarded for our patience in early September, with an Indian summer that coincided with a spring tide and at 1315 BST on Sunday 3rd September 2023, an hour ahead of High Water Liverpool, we made our departure on a stunningly beautiful day though not a breath of wind. The high-pressure weather system that dominated the country for the three days of our trip meant that any wind we were going to get was going to be moderate southerly, veering south easterly. This gave good anchorage options along the coast for an area that, in the prevailing north westerly winds, is usually an exposed lee shore.
Preston to Llandudno It took three hours from leaving the marina to reach the safe water mark (53°.41.67N 003°. 0922W). With no wind we began our course to Llandudno taking an initial course of 250° towards the Hamilton Gas field pushed along by the tide. Keeping this line, once were 2 NM west of the Liverpool Bay Traffic Separation Scheme we altered course almost directly to the south, and towards the sheltered north shore of Llandudno (53°19.80N 003°48.30W). We arrived at 0030 and set the anchor approximately 0.4 NM from the beach in 6m of water.
Lladudno to Great Burbo Flats we weighed anchor shortly after 0900 which gave us favourable tide until around 1400 though for the first hour had to motor due to the continued absence of any wind. The wind then started to pick up from an easterly direction and we close hauled up the coast. It was fantastic, Trivial Pursuit dug her shoulder in and was off. She was in her element with a very comfortable motion through the short chop. This also gave the opportunity to use the Aries Wind Vane, I have watched these on YouTube but never seen one in action. All I can say is that this is a fantastic bit of kit. Having set the course to steer the wind vane then holds the course to the wind. This is then adjustable via a ratchet mechanism by increments of 6° to either port or starboard.
We continued along the coast and the succession of wind farms arriving at the Great Burbo Flats at 1800. This was quite an anchorage(53°.27.80N 003°.08.90), we were 3NM off the beach at New Brighton in 4m of water and had protection from the Great Burbo Bank and East Hoy Spit . It was very peaceful and other than seeing the occasional boat heading in and out of the buoyed channel of the River Mersey (approximately 3 NM away) there was no one around and we enjoyed a beautiful sunset. I didn’t sleep particularly well, while I was completely confident that the anchor was going to hold and that no shipping would stray from the Mersey across the Great Burbo Bank, I felt a certain vulnerability due to the exposure. My anxiety peaked at around 0530 when the boat went from a static state to what felt to me like a violent rocking (it really wasn’t) and I could hear another boats engine. I leapt out of my bunk to see that this had been caused by the wash of a fast ferry leaving Liverpool. The ferry was probably 4 NM away but with the glass like sea state it had felt and sounded much closer.
Great Burbo Flats to Preston High water at Preston on our final day was 1550 and we needed to be able to head back up the estuary from the Gut Buoy 2 hours ahead of this. The wind was forecast to build throughout the day, and we had been hoping to catch a beam reach as we headed north up the coast in the continuing nice weather. Unfortunately, the wind only started to kick in as we made our approach to the Gut Buoy 2 hours ahead of time. We dropped the anchor and enjoyed a relaxed lunch during which time the easterly wind built to over 20 knots.
At 1350 we weighed anchor and headed up the estuary. The wind continued to build peaking at 25 knots on the nose and in the exact opposite direction to the 6 knots of tide that was carrying us up the River Ribble, making for an exciting journey.
We entered the lock at Preston having had a great trip and covering over 90 NM. It’s a crying shame that it was to be the last 200 metres through the lock and back to the safety of the berth that were to be the most eventful, but I will save that little yarn for another day.
Sailing Trivial Pursuit 
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